Animal Collective Inks Deal With Domino

Experimental indie outfit the Animal Collective has signed with the U.K.-based Domino Records, the label home to Franz Ferdinand, Clinic and Four Tet, among others, Billboard.com has learned.

Experimental indie outfit the Animal Collective has signed with the U.K.-based Domino Records, the label home to Franz Ferdinand, Clinic and Four Tet, among others, Billboard.com has learned. The New York-based group is slated to head into the studio this month to record the follow-up to its acclaimed 2005 effort, "Feels."

Animal Collective had previously been signed with Brighton, England-based Fat Cat Records, which will issue a four-song EP from the group, "People," on Jan. 23 in the U.S. Previously unavailable on these shores, the "People" EP was originally released last year by Australian label Spunk!

The Animal Collective's "Feels" was a breakthrough for the act, which found it more openly exploring traditional pop structures. The set debuted at No. 16 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart and has sold 39,000 units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The Animal Collective also run its own imprint, Paw Tracks. The latter will continue to be distributed by Fat Cat, according to a Domino label source. Paw Tracks has issued albums from the likes of singer/songwriter Aerial Pink and Panda Bear, the alter-ego of Animal Collective member Noah Lennox. A new Panda Bear album is due in March.